Political Ideology and the Recreational Use of Psychoactive Compounds. - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Polls on politics, news, current affairs and history.

What is your ideology and what are your drug use habits?

I am a communist or socialist and I use or have used recreational drugs heavily
No votes
0%
I am a communist or socialist and I use or have used recreational drugs lightly
No votes
0%
I am a communist or socialist and I abstain or very rarely use recreational drugs
4
22%
I am something else and I use or have used recreational drugs heavily
No votes
0%
I am something else and I use or have used recreational drugs lightly
2
11%
I am something else and I abstain or very rarely use recreational drugs
10
56%
Other
2
11%
#14927547
One Degree wrote:Does this include alcohol?


I will say no. While it is possible that fairly common recreational drugs like alcohol, nicotine and caffeine also cause brain damage or induce psychopathy I don't think there is a particularly strong case that they do given the vast numbers of people taking them. By psychoactive compounds I mean the stuff generally considered harmful enough to be outright banned. So opiates, lsd, cocaine, ecstasy etc.
#14927913
@SolarCross

I will say no. While it is possible that fairly common recreational drugs like alcohol, nicotine and caffeine also cause brain damage or induce psychopathy I don't think there is a particularly strong case that they do given the vast numbers of people taking them


That isn't an argument. Alcohol does negatively effect the brain in many instances, particularly in long term use. Long term use of alcohol is considerably more serious and lasting in it's consequences resulting in depression, anxiety, learning and memory problems, and disruption of normal brain development. Many people usually do not develop a clear political ideology until their late 20s/early 30s. It is around this point that the long term effects of alcohol can be witnessed. Alcohol, for all intents and purposes, should be included in your poll as a recreational drug if you want any objective results in your "experiment".
#14927992
@Oxymandias
Most people who use this site are westerners and most westerners are fairly heavy drinkers, so I think it will warp the results too much if we include alcohol. Also the vast majority of alcohol users don't experience any noticeable brain damage. There are health consequences for excessive caffeine and nicotine usage too, shall we include those? It may seem arbitrary to you but I think we need to keep the poll to just those compounds which are considered so dangerous that they are banned outright.
#14927995
Rugoz wrote:LSD a dangerous drug my ass. :lol:

Is this is a poll about who's slavish enough to conform to society's idea of what constitutes a "dangerous drug"?


Who said dangerous? My interest is in "mind altering" not "dangerous" per se. LSD isn't addictive but it is certainly mind altering and can induce mental illness. It wasn't banned on a whim there were reasons for it.
#14928015
SolarCross wrote:@Oxymandias
Most people who use this site are westerners and most westerners are fairly heavy drinkers,


hence all the fucking capitalism. westerners also heavily rely on psychotropic antidepressants and suffer from a variety of compulsive disorders like compulsive buying and binge eating. they also stare at the idiot box for 6 hrs a day on average. those capitalists are some warped little shits.
#14928028
Sivad wrote:hence all the fucking capitalism. westerners also heavily rely on psychotropic antidepressants and suffer from a variety of compulsive disorders like compulsive buying and binge eating. they also stare at the idiot box for 6 hrs a day on average. those capitalists are some warped little shits.


Westerners have been enthusiastic consumers of alcohol for thousands of years. Not being a communist has nothing to do with it. Were the Russians any less alcoholic during their communist phase?
#14928033
SolarCross wrote:Westerners have been enthusiastic consumers of alcohol for thousands of years. Not being a communist has nothing to do with it. Were the Russians any less alcoholic during their communist phase?


I'm not saying modern Western style capitalism is the only political pathology that causes the kind of alienation that drives people to obliterate themselves. Gulagism and feudalism are also extremely warped social structures so it wouldn't be surprising to find similar patterns of self-destructive behavior within those societies as well.
#14928036
Sivad wrote:I'm not saying modern Western style capitalism is the only political pathology that causes the kind of alienation that drives people to obliterate themselves. Gulagism and feudalism are also extremely warped social structures so it wouldn't be surprising to find similar patterns of self-destructive behavior within those societies as well.

What isn't a "warped social structure" then? :roll: Are you sane enough to make anything even remotely resembling a fair assessment of anything? "Garbage in, garbage out" as the coders say.

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